In yet another in what has become a series of contentious — and often bizarre — Vallejo City Unified School District Board of Trustees meetings, board president Marianne Kearney-Brown stormed out of Wednesday’s gathering.

Meanwhile, the board also found time to talk about declining enrollment and revenues that are likely to be worse than originally expected.

City Clerk Dawn Abrahamson announced that community hearings and meetings are planned to allow input from community members about Vallejo changing to a district-based election system, in response to a threatened lawsuit. Such meetings were held Nov. 8 and Nov. 27, and upcoming ones are planned for 7 p.m. Dec. 19 at the temporary City Council Chambers in the lower level of the John F. Kennedy Library; Jan. 5 at 2 p.m. at South Vallejo’s Norman C. King Community Center; 7 p.m. Jan. 22 at City Hall and 7 p.m. Feb. 26, also at City Hall.

Worel said that the Vallejo City Council sending Abrahamson instead of a council member with this announcement shows the council’s disdain for the district, and frequently outspoken audience member Ryan Messano said he found it ironic that the serial litigator from “lily-white Malibu is trying to teach the most diverse city in the country how to be diverse,” suggesting he’s “a guy living in a glass house, throwing stones.”

Former school board member Hazel Wilson publicly apologized to the students who were in the room when outgoing trustee Bucky Worel and Kearney-Brown had a “horrible” name-calling exchange at the start of the meeting.

During his report, Superintendent Adam Clark said that the district’s plan to make sure all its plans are in alignment will include a survey to get input from community stakeholders.

Worel thanked Clark for what he’s done and continues doing for the district and said he hopes he doesn’t get scared off by “naysayers.”

But, it was discussion of some of the contracts between the district and various potential vendors that sent Kearney-Brown packing.

She complained that the questions she asked about certain ones were not answered or not answered sufficiently, though all of them passed anyway.

Especially troublesome were contracts with the $10,000 for the United College Action Network, Inc., for the 19th Annual Historically Black College and University Recruitment Fair; the $15,000 for the Learning Management System, and more than $11,000 for Museum of Children’s Arts, all of which Kearney-Brown questioned the need for under the District’s faltering budget situation.

Kearney-Brown was the sole “no” vote on some of these, which prompted Wilson to suggest the reason for her vote was “racist.”

“No, that’s not why,” Kearney-Brown said. “I’m doing what I was elected to do.”

Clark apologized to the students for the negative remarks made about the district by some on the dais, to which Kearney-Brown said she apologized to them for “giving them some of the lowest test scores in the state of California.”

It was the $20,000 for Mass Movement mentoring program run by Vernon Williams, that appeared to be Kearney-Brown’s last straw.

She asked for data on results and what percentage of the firm’s budget comes from the VCUSD. Williams said he failed to see the relevance of the question, and Clark expressed agreement with this, when Kearney-Brown said, “I’m out,” snatched up her laptop and stormed out.

As board vice president, Trustee Robert Lawson picked up the agenda and oversaw the remainder of the meeting, which included a presentation by Williams on the results of his pilot program in the District last year, with improved attendance and grades.

The contract was approved with Cayangyang dissenting and Kearney-Brown absent.

Chief Business Officer Hitesh Haria, went over the budget numbers, predicting what they’ll be over the next few school years, what with accelerated declining enrollment, exacerbated by new and expanding charter schools, and millions in bailout state loans still being paid on.

“We have half the students and the same number of schools,” Worel said. “If the public can’t see how stupid that is, maybe they should walk out like Marianne did.”

With the Times-Herald since 1999, Rachel Raskin-Zrihen has been a reporter, writer and columnist for several print and online publications for nearly 30 years. She is the married mother of two grown sons and lives locally.